ajuuiomml
3d ago
xAI acquires X…
in an all stock transaction valuing xAI at 80 billion. This isn’t the first time Musk has bailed out one of his companies with another (Solar City -> Tesla) in 2016. That decision was upheld by Delaware courts and it’s hard to imagine this won’t end up in the (Nevada) courts again. Given xAI has raised at least 12 billion and put in an offer for OpenAI at 97, the valuation isn’t ridiculous on its face. It’s also hard to imagine this will do anything to buoy his rapidly declining public image.
So, what’s the play for the new XxAI? Presumably, xAI was already training on twitter data. Terrifying! Is this anything more than a self bailout to avoid margin calls on Tesla stock that leveraged the purchase of Twitter?
ajuuiomml
5d ago
because they have somehow managed to take pride in avoiding anything to do with physical fitness
The more charitable explanation is that women and men never compete in sports directly past puberty . In the sports with comparable outcomes, it’s not clear if women do worse because there are so few of them or they are less competitive generally. Basically, anyone who grew up without a brother has no way of naturally disabusing themself of the notion that women are just as strong as men.
I don’t believe this good. I do believe that Libraries and Museums are institutions nearly entirely dominated by progressive Progressives and outright antagonistic to any conservative ideology, Drag Queen Story Hour and all.
I’d much rather have seen reform, but courts and Resist makes that harder than padlocks for some reason. I’d try anyway, but it’s not up to me, and barring that, I’d instead work to shift the funds to the States directly for disbursement. Total ideological capture by the enemy is a giant beacon to those already in the business of fucking shit up.
Perhaps no one has noticed given Trump, Ukraine, Yemen, Trump, and eggs: war in the Middle East is back! Very strong words from America in support of Israel:
All hell will break loose, and all of the terrorists in the Middle East – again, the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iranian-backed terror proxies and Iran themselves – should take President Trump very seriously when he says he is not afraid to stand for law-abiding people. He is not afraid to stand up for the United States of America and our friend and our ally Israel.
as compared to “Canada only works as a state”. Israel’s reasoning is as follows:
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement cited by Israeli media that the attacks had “the goal of achieving the war objectives as determined by the political leadership, including the release of all our hostages – both the living and the fallen”.
Prompt: what is it that makes Israel worthy of the friendship of the US whereas NATO is worthy of relegation given both would pull it into wars of choice half way around the world of no strategic importance? Follow-up: should Israel be the 51st state?
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/03/17/middleeast/israel-strikes-gaza-hamas-ceasefire-intl-hnk
Trump doesn’t need to fly the plane, he needs to sign the order to fly the plane. The Constitution lays it out:
The President … shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States …
The office of the President isn’t vested with the authority to pardon, but the President himself. Ascertaining whether the President personally authorized or delegated a pardon is meet, just, and right given reasonable doubt.
I agree Mexico is the much tastier target. In my personal assessment, Mexico is more culturally compatible with the US than Canada. The US could sort out the corruption and drugs, Mexico would get a massive infusion of cash. I’d gladly support a 10 trillion dollar buyout of Mexico, and it will come with a canal, so what’s not to love?
As to your question of Trumps seriousness for acquiring Canada… he appears to be quite serious. However, approximately no one else in the US body or government holds that position including other Republicans (as evidenced by that line in his speech getting notably no applause)… and as ever, I feel obliged to apologize for the shameful treatment of your country, assuming you are Canadian.
The US-Canada trade war is off on off on off! Retaliatory 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum that is. The rest are still on.
"This cannot continue," Trump wrote. "The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World," he added.
“And your brilliant anthem, 'O Canada,' will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!"
Even if Canada agreed to become a US state, Congress wouldn’t go for it because it would permanently cede every national election to the Democratic Party. Surely someone has told Trump!? Disregarding statehood as the {only way to stop this}, I’m guessing steel factories take longer than 4 years to build. An agent of chaos indeed!
So, what is the off ramp? The US annexes Canada and changes its name to Canada? Border state republicans take away Trump’s toys tariffs until he can play nicely? Global depression? Or the continuation of flip flopping tariffs to placate boredom?
Ukraine is not a member of NATO and is not entitled to the protection of the US nor is Europe entitled to dollars to do so. If an actual ally is attacked, article 5 it. If Europe wants to defend Ukraine and poke the most nuclear armed bear in the world, have at it. If Russia uses tactical nukes or glasses Kiev, let’s not pretend that at France or Germany would respond in kind, either. It would be suicide.
I strongly believe the US would act in exactly the same way as Russia if put in the same circumstances. Imagine if there were a coup revolution in Mexico tomorrow, throwing out the elected pro American government for one that is decidedly pro China. So much so that Mexico wants to join an alliance with China, stop trade with the US, possibly disallow the US military and civilian ships access to the Gulf of Mexico, provide accommodations for military bases for China in Mexico on the border, and possibly station Chinese nuclear weapons pointing north. While the US has never been to war directly with China, and they aren’t threatening to invade, we would invade Mexico and not think twice. We would field tactical nukes in the case we were losing ground with Mexican troops approaching San Diego and not think twice.
A message via polling & committee is not a viable path to victory. Democrats need an actual leader with charisma and conviction, truly alien since Obama. In the ongoing Year of the Trump, the salient messages have been “resist”, “not Trump”, “woke” to a lesser extent, and “mumbling” at the moment. Somehow, I came out of the SotU shit show with a more favorable view of Trump even though I vehemently dislike every one of his policy positions or how he is implementing them. Democrats somehow came away looking even more effete. Resist: for a Congressperson to hold a placard or coordinate attire for an opposition speech.
I would go for accountability, the general acceptance of reality, and a clear, positive message for the future of the country. This bold proposal would require the Democratic Party to both run a primary and respect the outcome so it’s unlikely.
Terrorism is a meme - a true social contagion. Shooting into a random crowd is a popular meme in the US. Driving into one is popular in Germany [1]. Talking about a meme in the context of concern and apprehension is the vector. I think in the US, putting “assault rifles” in the news in perpetuity chiefly serves to remind individuals that the meme exists - it’s within the realm of possibilities for stuff to do and it’s easy/doable (quotidian). I acknowledge it’s somewhat ridiculous, but very clearly people couldn’t shoot masses without first considering it. I can enumerate any number of ridiculous things that no one is doing, benign or terrible. Naming and discussing them births them into the world.
Not naming the shooter is just the opposite. Not discussing the shooting is even better; no notoriety, no acknowledgment, no fame, no infamy, no victims, no crying mothers, no nothing. The extent to which Democrats rail against public shootings is the extent to which we will continue to have more. They communicate: “I’m so upset when you do this thing” which is received as a nine year old would: “do this to upset me”. The incentive is wrong for the media as defecting is directly rewarded with money/praise/concern! This is the lifecycle of the meme without which it would not exist.
Sometimes memes go out of style. Domestic bombings were all the rage in 1973 in the US (although those were not distributed in nature). In that case, they stopped when the perpetrators sorta blew themselves up, sorta got arrested, the news sorta stopped reporting it, and they sorta decided bombing police stations wasn’t changing the world, so they became Ivy League professors instead! So good luck to you. Planting bollards everywhere is a strong reminder that driving your car into people is a thing that you can do this weekend and telling people not to talk about it is worse!
1.https://old.reddit.com/r/2westerneurope4u/comments/1j2je9e/your_average_german_afternoon/
ajuuiomml
25d ago
We are stronger than Canada, Mexico, the EU, China, and Japan. We are not strong enough to pick a fight with all of them at the same time! The only sane trade policy for industrialization is to encourage trade within the Americas, with our friends, with whom we exert outsized influence as opposed to the EU and the Pacific. Free trade has very clearly worked in this context as evidenced by the comparative economic success of the US. The extent to which it hasn’t is the extent to which we should fuck with it (not much) which I was under the impression that we already resolved under Trump 1.
How much has Canada actually taken advantage of the US?
At the end of the day, the US will not be a net exporter and have the strongest currency in the world.
ajuuiomml
27d ago
The Ukrainians at the front were abducted off the street. It’s a conscript army. If I lived in Ukraine, I would have fled by now.
Ukraine may not win - not morally or practically, but because it’s too dangerous. Ukrainian troops approaching Russia or taking back Crimea will see nuclear weapons flying. Pushing Russia to the brink is a bad idea.
ajuuiomml
28d ago
The US could easily crush Canada or Mexico in a trade war. It would do fine against the EU or China. It’s suicide to attempt all at once! The bargaining position of the US isn’t going to be better after a year of tariffs with neighbors that hate us and -10% gdp growth.
Fucking up the economy has got to be the one way to get congress to step up.
ajuuiomml
28d ago
No, I don’t believe that. China making it zero sum is throwing fuel on the fire though.
ajuuiomml
28d ago
Looks like trade with the US is ~20% of Canadas GDP. Imports are also sizeable. This will not end well for Canada - my sincere apologies from the US. I honestly wonder what Trump is after.
ajuuiomml
28d ago
What odds do you place on this causing local depressions or a global recession?
I’d go for at least single digit.
ajuuiomml
28d ago
That is not our beef with China. China runs a market closed to American business - it forces the transfer of ownership and IP, while our market is relatively open. China systematically spies on American businesses and academia to steal IP for the purpose of competition (not national security). China was the main supplier of synthetic opioids to the US.
Ukraine is not an ally of the US. We have entered no treaty as such and have no obligations. We have shipped them armaments to the tune of 100-250 billion dollars out of mutual interest. If the US is attacked by Canada today, tomorrow, or ten years from now, Ukraine is not sending troops, arms, or aid. Ukraine is not entitled to our money.
Russia is a hostile nation, a rogue state, and our geopolitical adversary, but it is not our enemy. We are not at war with Russia and owning Putin is not our goal.
Our actual European allies, NATO or otherwise, are not entitled to our money on behalf of the defense of Ukraine. If Europe wants to indefinitely fund a stalemate, go for it, but fund it too well and risk a nuclear war. Just because we have crossed 5 red lines with no consequence doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
Would you enumerate the core tenants of Hlyknaism, confused as they are?
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